Hearts of Iron

The whole globe is up for grabs and you can jump in from 1936, before the political landscape of wartime has taken shape, or you can leap into the thick of things at 1939 or even 1941. You can take control of one of eight major nations, ranging from the obvious--Germany, Great Britain and Russia--through to the likes of nationalist China. You can also opt to play the role of any minor nation, though the challenge becomes very different as you are frequently forced to ally with whichever major force approaches your territory first and then hope for the best.

The game will look very familiar to fans of Europa Universalis and its sequel. There's a good reason for this: Hearts of Iron is built on an adapted version of the engine. It drives the game's massive depth and scope, but also causes some problems. The interface is clunky at times and struggles to cope with the masses of information available. Also, the map territories don't always make a lot of sense. Perseverance is required, but also rewarded.

The level of micro management is intense, but gives you full control. It ranges from choosing to research nuclear technology at the expense of building more advanced conventional military might to staging coups in opposing countries. You just don't get the chance to play out WWII at this level every day and that's reason enough to pick up this game, put up with its sometimes annoying foibles and revel in global conquest. --Jason Weston

Good points: *you can choose any country to play as (in the world) *tonnes of generals and experience gaining (it's not great but better than nothing) *you control many different aspects of your country - each vitally important e.g making crucial alliances (as for example France) could help prevent the takeover by the Nazis *each time you play the game as a new country you get a whole new game (things don't always work out in the same way, giving the game replayability) *you feel like a general when you move your troops especially when you MUST take into consideration all their stats/condition and type *the game is Very engaging

Bad points: *graphics aren't 3D (doesn't really matter - but some people get really moany about graphics) *diplomacy doesn't allow you to make special alliances other than the existing ones (Axis, Allies, Comitern) *nukes don't play much of a part in the game - neither do air units really *it's only worth playing as the big countries (simply because playing as smaller countries you can't build any sort of empire or make any real impact in the war)

Top Game


Good concept, poorly tested.   July 18, 2004
doctor_jeep (Oxford UK)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Potentially a very good game, but severely undermined by all sorts of bizarre bugs and logical inconsistencies. The original release was more like a beta version in all honesty. Patched to 1.06 it is highly playable but it could have done with more play testing and someone who had actually played the game to write the manual.
In reality it promises too much to possibly deliver, but the result is remarkable for all that, and on balance the game is still worth buying.


The greatest WWII Strategic Simulation ever.   May 15, 2004
Mr. J. Holroyd (Manchester UK)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Recently Paradox have released patch 1.06 for Hearts of Iron available at no cost from www.paradoxplaza.com and it corrects almost every defect mentioned in the reviews below.

If you want to build a mass of Naval Bombers and crush the Kreigsmarine in it's home Ports you can.
Want to invade India as Japan with one man and his Donkey? No chance the British will wipe the floor with you.

It's all there and along with it's sister game Victoria is one of the greatest and most replayable games I have ever owned, and Paradox have consistently shown their commitment to post release improvements of their games in line with players requests.

Choosing to buy this game is choosing to buy into a global community of players and spend many (perhaps too many ;) hours of thoroughly rewarding gameplay. The game is also a valuable educational asset with numerous events reflecting the major issues of the day adding a huge amount of flavour to the proceedings.


Almost great   April 20, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Despite its numerous and glaring flaws, this is one of the most absorbinggames I've ever played. You really do feel that you have the destiny ofthe world in your hands as you play Hearts of Iron.
The enormous level of detail and the absence of snazzy graphics willundoubtedly put off shoot 'em up fans. What you get instead is an eagleeye view of the bewildering array of strategic options open to each majorplayer in world war two.
You can choose which nation to play, and when to start the game. The rangeof scenarios allows you to plunge straight into world war, or to take aback seat for a while in order to build up your forces as you see fit,while attempting to shore up your diplomatic position.
Although it can take a while to get to the action if you choose to beginin, say 1936 as opposed to 1939, for me, this is the essence of what makesthis game special. The technology and industrial functions allow you tomould your forces as you see fit. For instance, as Germany you can chooseto rewrite history by concentrating on naval as opposed to land power -perhaps in order to conquer Africa or the Middle East. As Britain, you canchoose not to go down the historical path of building heavy bombers (whichactually absorbed a third of all Britain's wartime production) andconcentrate on other arms. All the while, you're scanning the situationfor new threats, while plotting your next (or first) move.
Once war has started the AI, while not perfect, is good enough to presentyou with the kind of absorbing strategic choices which make this gamefascinating. Will the Germans bother to invade Russia, or deal with thewest first? Will the US deem Japan a higher priority than Europe? How mucheffort is North Africa worth for Britain? Hearts of Iron makes you thinkabout what to do at every stage of the war, and as games progress you findyourself straying further and further away from what actually happened.
The downside is that this vast complexity comes at a price. Hearts of Ironis not an easy or quick game to learn, and even when you do there arenumerous glitches in the software, which the downloadable patch doesn'tcompletely resolve.
It still crashes frequently, and games are very difficult to save. The AIcan be unrealistic in some situations. Playing Germany one time, I invadedDenmark, only to be harassed for the rest of the game by a single Danishdivision which proceeded to conquer the whole of the Reich while I triedto defeat France. There are numerous other bizarre glitches, such as aninability to load most Commonwealth troops onto sea transports, andinexplicable supply rules. All these take the edge of what would otherwiseby a fantastic game. But if the developers can sort these out, and perhapscome up with a less cumbersome interface, this could be great.